Convicted murderer found guilty in armored car messenger's slaying

A man convicted of murder in the death of a bystander during an August 2000 shootout with an armored car guard in Van Nuys was convicted on Monday of the 1999 ambush murder of an armored car messenger at a Jetro Cash & Carry store in Vernon.

The six-man, six-woman jury is due back in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday for the start of the trial's penalty phase, in which the panel will be asked to recommend whether Ramon Cervantes Chavez should be sentenced to death or a no-parole life prison term.

The jury found the 47-year-old defendant guilty of first-degree murder in the Jan. 14, 1999, killing of Eleazar Jaramillo Sr., who was shot in the back of the head while in the Jetro store.

Jurors also found true the special circumstance allegations of murder while lying in wait, murder during the commission of a robbery and murder during the commission of a burglary, along with a separate allegation that he personally and intentionally discharged a firearm.

Outside the jury's presence, Chavez waived his right to a jury trial on a fourth special circumstance allegation -- that he previously had been convicted in Van Nuys Superior Court of first-degree murder for the Aug. 13, 2000, shooting death of 29-year-old TV production assistant Owen Wolf, struck by stray gunfire outside a Costco store.

Chavez has already been ordered to serve a life prison term without the possibility of parole for Wolf's slaying after pleading guilty in November 2001 to first-degree murder in that case.

His older brother, Ignacio, was convicted of both murders in separate trials for being the getaway driver in each crime. A separate jury deadlocked in May on whether to recommend that the 56-year-old man be sent to death row or spend the rest of his life in prison for the armored car courier's slaying and the May 15, 2000, shooting death of Pasadena restaurant owner Olivia de la Torre -- the latter of which Ramon Chavez is not charged.

In her closing argument last week, Deputy District Attorney Ana Lopez told jurors that Ramon Chavez matched the "physical parameters" of the gunman in the Jetro shooting and that he was identified by three eyewitnesses independent of one another.

Both the Jetro and Costco crimes happened in the middle of the month, and involved an "extremely high-risk venture" of the robbery or attempted robbery of an armored car messenger in which the getaway driver was parked near the door of the store, the prosecutor said.

"Everything else remains the same, including the identity of the driver, Ignacio Chavez," the prosecutor said.

One of Ramon Chavez's attorneys, Frank DiSabatino, told jurors that the case was "about eyewitness identification."

"There was no physical evidence, no fingerprints ... nothing to tie him in physically with this case," the defense lawyer said, adding that there were "very huge differences" between the Jetro and Costco crimes.

DiSabatino, who urged jurors to acquit his client of Jaramillo's killing, told the panel that the robbery of the armored car messenger at Jetro occurred in the morning on a weekday while the shootout with the armored car guard outside Costco occurred on a busy weekend day when there were a lot of people shopping.

"It's our opinion that Ignacio did this (Jetro) robbery with a professional," he said, noting that the gunman walked up to the courier, put a gun behind his ear and pulled the trigger.

The defense stipulated that Ramon Chavez was convicted of crimes stemming from the shooting outside Costco.